male announcer: Previously on "Casual"...
- I thought your sister didn't want us hanging out.
- She didn't say that. Specifically.
I feel like I hardly even got to know him.
- You had him for a day.
- You don't belong here.
- The desire for love is a powerful thing.
If you force him to choose, he may not choose you.
- Well, she obviously does not want me here.
- It's her first wedding since the divorce,
and it's our parents, so she'll be better.
- Yeah, or she'll get blackout drunk
and cause a ridiculous scene.
- Oh. We can only hope.
- While most of us drift away from the one's we love,
they came back together,
and that's something worth celebrating.
- That is MDMA.
That's happiness in 100 milligrams.
- It's been so long.
- Since you did ecstasy?
- Since I was happy.
[door opening]
Alex!
Fuck! Shit! Don't fucking--
Wait, wait, Alex!
[Valerie June's "Somebody to Love"]
♪ Well if you're tired and feeling so lonely ♪
♪ You wake up at night thinking that only ♪
♪ If you had somebody ♪
♪ ♪
♪ I'll be somebody ♪
- [sighs]
♪ Somebody to love ♪
♪ ♪
♪ Did they tell you there were ♪
♪ Plenty of fish in the sea ♪
♪ But you're drowning and cold and you're feeling empty ♪
♪ Looking for somebody ♪
- Alex?
♪ I'll be somebody ♪
♪ ♪
♪ Somebody to love ♪
♪ ♪
Hey.
- Hey.
- What are you doing here?
- Um...
Why aren't you at the wedding?
- We'll talk about it in the morning.
I love you.
[gentle guitar music]
♪ ♪
- [sighs]
- I was gonna make waffles, but...
Belgium can go fuck itself.
Um...
Are you, uh... are you all right?
- No, Leon. I don't think I am.
- Well, we can... go to a strip club.
- Those girls are sad enough.
[sighs]
- Right, okay.
Get dressed.
- Huh?
[door opening]
- Alex? Alex.
- Alex?
Alex!
- You can't just waltz in here.
- To my boyfriend's house?
- You're not welcome here.
- You are really gonna try to put this on me?
- Well, your drugs, your lack of boundaries.
- And you're selective memory.
- I'm his sister. You're you.
- Right.
I'm me.
- When I first moved to this city, I came here all the time.
Just me and the birds.
- There's no birds here. I don't see a single bird.
- Yes, there are.
There--there are a few over there.
Anyway, uh, forget about the birds.
The point is...
I went a long time without... speaking to people.
Even in a place like this. All you have to do is...
look down and they'll walk right past.
- So, what changed?
- I...I met my fiancé.
- The one who cheated on you? With the VHS tapes?
You would have been better off with the birds.
- Then I wouldn't have met your sister,
and I wouldn't have let her take me home,
and I wouldn't have gotten the chance to know you.
- You don't know me, Leon.
- Of--of course I do.
- Where did I go to college?
What's me favorite movie? My favorite band?
- I...get the sense you don't have a favorite movie or band.
- [sighs]
I'm just the asshole who shows up when he needs something.
And you're too nice to tell me to leave.
[dog barking]
- Come on.
- Where are we going now?
- Just...come on.
[playful music]
♪ ♪
- [sighs] What about friends?
- Hmm? What?
- Well, did you--did you call his friends?
- Uh...uh, no.
Alex doesn't have friends. He never had friends.
- Well, yeah, he does.
- Who?
- I don't remember his name, but he's black
and he's British, and he--
- Leon?
- Leon, yes.
- Alex is not friends with Leon.
- No, we went to his house.
- Why?
- We needed a fourth.
- A fourth what?
Oh...
[playful music]
♪ ♪
[puppies barking]
- Do you think he misses me?
- I imagine he hasn't stopped thinking about you.
- Carl?
[cell phone ringing]
- Hello?
- Where's Alex? - What?
- Alex, my brother. Do you remember him?
You had a foursome with him?
- Oh, uh...hello, Valerie.
- Is he with you?
- Uh--Valerie, I--um... now isn't a good time.
May I call you back?
- Put him on the phone!
[puppies whining]
- I haven't seen him.
But I'll call you if I do. Cheers.
- Did you just lie for me, Leon?
- I...suppose I did.
- You.
- Where's Carl?
- Shit.
You get off on coercing people into getting what you want?
- Coercing? I didn't coerce him.
And I didn't coerce you. It was--it was just sex.
Consensual sex.
- We didn't have sex. - Okay.
- We didn't.
- Oh, no, no, no, I said okay.
- We slept in the same bed.
We slept together, okay? We didn't sleep together.
What? We kissed.
Oh. Touched, fine.
We had, um...foreplay.
That's what it's called. We had foreplay.
- But you came twice.
- People come during foreplay. - Uh-huh.
- It doesn't count, okay?
Nothing was, um...you know, inserted.
- That's a very hetero-normative way of looking at it.
- I know what it is!
- How much do you actually remember?
- I remember you taking advantage of me
when I was very emotionally compromised.
- You kissed me.
- Wow.
I just got the weirdest sense of deja vu.
- Laura... - So you guys had sex
at Dawn and Charles's wedding?
- No, at rehearsal dinner. - Absolutely not.
- So this is like a thing for you now?
I like someone, you fuck him.
Alex likes someone, you fuck her.
- No.
- You just can't help yourself, can you?
You just have to fuck everyone for yourself.
[scoffs] I feel sorry for you.
- Laura, this was... a mistake.
This was a...this was a very, very big mistake.
- You fuck her by mistake? Really, like an accident?
You're a therapist.
Do you even believe in accidental fucks?
- Can you stop saying fuck?
- I don't even know why I came back here.
[door closes]
- Do you think he's at a house?
Or like a farm? Maybe he's a sheepdog now.
That's the highest class of dog, you know?
- Mm. Canine nobility.
- Mm-hmm.
- Do you think he's happy?
I hope he's happy. I do.
But then the selfish part of me kind of hopes
he's in this really dirty puppy gulag,
and we have to break in and rescue him.
- Well, we'll do whatever it takes.
- Yeah, we will.
- Take a right.
- Ah, it should be right up here.
- Where are we? - I don't know.
- Well, this doesn't look gentrified at all.
- This is the address he gave us.
[upbeat music]
♪ ♪
- Leon.
- Hi! [door slams]
- I slept with Emmy.
- Okay.
- Alex's girlfriend, Emmy.
- That's...uh... that's fucked up.
- Yeah, I'm aware.
- Did he, like... do something to you?
- I'm a bad person, aren't I?
I mean, yeah, I'm a bad person.
Good people don't... [scoffs]
Good people do not do what I did.
- You did a bad thing, but that doesn't make you a bad person...
necessarily.
- He's got this online profile, and she is the only one
who matched it, the only one.
I know that sounds really fucking stupid, but...
it was him, I mean, it was like the real Alex.
The real Alex. It sounded like him.
He was so happy.
Oh, so happy...
and I ruined it.
- Do you not want him to be happy?
- Of course I want him to be happy.
He's my brother.
- Right.
- I mean, I want him to be happy, I don't want him to...
I want him to be happy.
- But you don't want him to be happy with someone else?
[gentle music]
♪ ♪
[crunching]
- Catch anything?
- Not yet.
Your parents know you're out here all alone?
- Why? You wanna kidnap me?
They've got problems of their own.
- Ah, I used to have problems.
- Used to?
- Uh-huh.
Then I got a surf board and this pole, and...
now when I don't like the way things are going
I just get in my van and...drive.
- That sounds pretty lonely.
- I meet people.
Nobody stops me.
Guess I don't leave much behind.
[gentle music]
♪ ♪
- Where do you go?
- Wherever the road takes me.
Mostly Mexico.
[dogs barking]
- Oh, God. What'd I do?
What kind of man abandons his child?
- Just relax. It'll all be all right.
You'll see.
- You promise?
- I promise. - Hey.
Look at that. I got him.
Says he was adopted by a family in Alta Dena.
- Alta Dena.
- You see?
Have you got a phone number?
- Oh. Oh.
- What's that mean, oh?
- You said a Labrador?
- Yeah.
Chocolate lab. His name's Carl.
He's sweet and he's kind, and he's in Alta Dena.
- That was a black lab.
- He's um... herding sheep in heaven.
Alex? I'm--I'm sorry.
Alex?
What are you doing?
Alex, open the--
Alex! Alex, what are you-- Alex!
Ugh. What are you doing?
Alex!
Alex?
[car beeping]
[brakes screeching]
[decelerating]
Fucking idiot!
What the fuck were you doing?
You could have killed yourself!
- But I didn't! I didn't.
[both panting]
I guess...I guess someone's looking out for me.
- Yes, I am looking out for you.
- Why?
- 'Cause that's what friends do.
- [laughs]
- Ugh.
[sighs]
[playful music]
- Hey, how about this?
- It's the dry season.
♪ ♪
- Do you want a shower or something?
- No, I'm good.
Do you guys have something I could drink?
- I have a gun.
- Cool.
- Hey, will you grab my sandals?
- Yeah.
- Here you go. - Thanks.
- Laura. - Hi, Mom.
- Who is this?
- Dave.
We met at the pier.
- I was fishing. - Okay.
- Pretty weak catch, to be honest.
- Yeah. - Good thing I got these.
- Great. Laura...
What is he doing in the house?
- He's helping me pack.
- We're going to Mexico. - What?
- Have you seen my passport? - Just stop!
- Stop what? - You know what.
- Dave made a convincing argument.
- Hey! I am not kidding around right now.
- [laughs] That's her mom voice.
Come on.
- Laura, you're not going to Mexico with Dave.
- Sure I am.
- Who's going to Mexico?
- Nobody.
Look, I am your mom.
- You don't have to do that.
- I don't have to do what?
- Pretend to be my mom.
- I am your mom.
- No, you're my best friend.
At least you were before you stabbed me in the back
and slept with a guy I liked.
- Your teacher. - You slept with her teacher?
- Her photography teacher.
Wait...best friend?
- Yeah. We were a team, you know?
You and me.
But it turns out you're not a very good mom or friend.
But it's fine. I've got Dave now.
- Right. Can we...
Can we just talk about this in private?
Dave doesn't mind. You don't mind, do you, Dave?
Emmy, do you mind?
[door opening]
- Oh, thank God.
- Good, we're all here.
- Why Mexico?
- I've always wanted to go.
- You never said anything about it before.
- You never asked.
- How long you thinking about staying?
- Six months, maybe more.
Dave knows a few people in Costa Rica.
- They have a camper down by the beach.
It's a pretty sweet setup.
- Yeah. Sounds like it.
- You're not worried about money?
- The dollar goes pretty far down there.
- It's a weak economy.
- Okay, Dave.
- Why is it such a big deal?
I mean, people travel all the time.
- Yeah, but they usually wait until after high school.
- I don't really like school.
- What about your friends? Won't you miss them?
- I don't really like them either.
- Oh.
- Honestly, I'm a little surprised you care.
- Why would you say that?
- I mean...
Look, you know what? It's fine.
I mean, what does it matter if I live here, or Dad's house,
or Mexico, it doesn't matter, none of it matters.
- This is your home. We're your family.
That matters.
- Then why is she trying to tear us apart?
- I'm not trying to tear us apart, Laura.
I'm trying to bring us together.
I didn't want to lose him.
I couldn't stand the idea of losing both of you.
- What, you slept with me so that you wouldn't lose him?
- Whoa.
- I'm sorry.
I...
I don't know what's wrong with me.
[gentle music]
♪ ♪
I'm sorry.
- Carl's dead.
- Who's Carl?
- My dog. They put him down.
- You--you don't own a dog.
Are you going to respond to what she just said?
- You know, some things are worth caring about.
If you don't care about anything,
you just end up like Dave here.
- Alex. - Wait, what do you mean,
like me?
- You don't want that.
- She slept with me to break us up.
That's crazy, that's fucking crazy.
She's--she's crazy.
- Hey, that's a little hyperbolic.
- She just admitted it.
- And technically, you slept with her, too.
Why would you sleep with your boyfriend's sister?
- Okay, I fucked up. Of course, I fucked up.
But...we both did.
I mean, but that's not-- you don't just...
throw it away 'cause of that.
I mean, we're good together.
It works. How often can you say that?
I mean...this should not be a competition.
I mean, you do see how dysfunctional this is, right?
♪ ♪
- We were good together.
But you should go.
- God, you--okay.
Yeah, you deserve each other.
- [sighs]
[door closes]
- Crazy, right?
- Dave, I think you should go now, too.
- Look at Aunt Eva.
- That hat is awful.
- It's all awful.
- We could've stayed home.
- I wanted to see if they'd burst into flames.
- Another prayer unanswered.
[sighs]
- Do you think Jesus was a narcissist?
- What?
- A narcissist.
Like, did Jesus have a personality disorder?
- Like, you mean like on a clinical level?
- Yeah. Turning water into wine,
saying he was a savior.
Whole son of God thing.
- Right. Did it affect him socially?
At work?
'Cause it has to affect you to really count.
- Well, a lot of people hated Jesus.
- Well, he told people how to live their lives.
Nobody wants to hear that.
- No, they don't.
["Wedding March" playing]
♪ ♪
- Welcome, friends and family.
So we gather here today to celebrate the Holy union
of Dawn to Charles.
Today is a blessing.
- Do you think they'll last?
- Mom and Dad? - Yeah.
- Well, they love each other.
Or, at least they convince themselves they do.
That might be enough.
- They do look happy.
[poignant music]
- Yeah, they do.
♪ ♪
[Wendy Rene's "After Laughter (Comes Tears)"]
♪ ♪
♪ After laughter ♪
♪ Comes tears ♪
- ♪ After laughter ♪ - ♪ After your laughter ♪
- ♪ Comes tears ♪ - ♪ There will be tears ♪
♪ ♪
♪ When you're in love ♪
♪ You're happy ♪
♪ Oh, and then ♪
♪ When you're in a arm ♪
♪ You gaze ♪
♪ ♪
- ♪ After laughter ♪ - ♪ After your laughter ♪
- ♪ Comes tears ♪ - ♪ Oh! Oh! Oh! ♪
- ♪ After laughter ♪ - ♪ After your laughter ♪